


The June Battle

by Pygmy Puff (ppuff)



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alludes to a historical event, Gen, Implied Spacetime Travel, Mysterious Visitor, Potential AU, Right before the barricades
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-04
Updated: 2014-06-04
Packaged: 2018-02-03 11:07:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1742567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ppuff/pseuds/Pygmy%20Puff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The barricades have been erected and the revolutionaries ready for battle. Marius spends some time alone the night before and spots a mysterious visitor. Who is this visitor? And why does the visitor choose to come to this time and place?</p><p>The idea for this story came to me when I was reminded that today is the 25th anniversary of another June event.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The June Battle

**Author's Note:**

> While this fic is inspired by real history, everything here is fictitious. I literally wrote this today during my commute, so please forgive any errors.

Marius paces inside the barricades, a nervous gesture he can never quite outgrow, as his friends try to find what comfort they can by sleeping and drinking during what is possibly their last night on earth. From where he stands, he can hear voices singing and the occasional burst of laughter coming through the walls. Marius walks closer to the house where his friends have usurped and turned into a makeshift gathering place. He really should be in there with them, not pacing under the night sky yearning for a lost love that he will never be able to take hold of again.

He is about to enter the house when he catches a glimpse of black hair and black outfit. He shouldn't be able to see the person so clearly in the dark, but something about her -- he's sure that this is a woman -- seems to have imprinted on his vision and all he can do is allow his feet to gather up speed from steps to trots and then into a run, chasing after her, heedless that he is running out into the other side of the barricades and placing himself in harm's way of the National Guards' bullets. But the Guards ignore him. The night is quiet and, bolstered by the illusion of safety, Marius keeps running, turning a corner here and passing through an alleyway there as if he knows exactly where he is going. _A curious matter_ , he briefly thinks but then pushes the thought away. His eyes catch movement from a black form a few streets ahead. He follows.

When he finally catches up to her -- or rather, when she stops and allows Marius to reach her -- they are on one of the bridges of the Seine. Marius glances behind him; they have gone far. How could he have left his friends, his post, his rightful place at the barricades, so easily? But one look at the mysterious woman stills his retreating feet and he gapes (at long black hair and a too-pale face and eyes that are far too old for this body that looks no more than thirty-five), and all thoughts of leaving her evaporate.

"Who --"

"What is today? June 4?"

Marius almost gasps. This woman's voice is clear and melodic, but her words contain a world of weariness and not a trace of warmth.

He shakes his head. "No... June 5. Or rather, the sixth. I believe it's past midnight."

"Hmm." The woman neither thanks nor further acknowledges him. She looks down into the river, contemplating its dark waters. But after a minute or so, she speaks. "The streets are unsafe and the pathetic blockades that you and your friends made are about to fall. Why such desperation? Are you in a time of war?"

Where is this woman from, to know nothing about the people's revolution that has been brewing for months and finally exploded into existence with the rise of the barricades?

She continues as if she doesn't expect an answer. "There was a battle in my world, on June 4, many years ago. We call it the June Battle. Some know it as the Freedom Battle."

"Where are you from?" Marius asks. If they're going to engage in a conversation, then the least he should know about her is how, and why, she manages to deposit herself in the middle of Paris on the brink of an uprising. He'd like to know her name too, but something tells him that she won't give it. It's not important anyway, for tomorrow he'll likely be dead, and dead people don't have memories of the names of strangers they've met from the night before.

She continues, ignoring his question, and Marius can't help himself but to be drawn into her voice, her tale: "I was young then, when the June Battle happened. A mere child. My mother and I lived many provinces away, we weren't at the Battle site. But the whole country had their eyes on the student revolution and we were ready to support them however we could. My mother told me they fought for freedom. Freedom is a good thing, she said, and that was all I was able to understand.

"The government killed the Freedom Fighters. The day after, my mother took me to the streets. There were millions of us, marching and protesting. I didn't know why. We marched for hours. I don't recall the specifics, but I will remember that day forever."

The woman then looks at Marius, like two beams of too-bright light shining straight into his soul. "And so will you."

Maybe she knows something that he doesn't. Maybe she's come to deliver a message just like he has sent his final love and regards to Cosette. If she implies that he will always remember this day, then do they win?

"Do you think we will succeed?" he asks.

"Succeed in what? What are you fighting for?"

"Freedom. Liberty. A better tomorrow."

The woman looks at him and ponders.

"Then you don't yet know what you're fighting for," she says. "Not for yourself."

Marius is about to protest, but she holds up a hand.

"I'm not saying they aren't good causes or that you aren't meant to join your friends there. But I have a feeling you really don't know why you're about to throw your life away."

"I know why!" he objects. Of course he does, or else why would he risk losing his life to the cause?

Does he?

As they walk from the bridge back toward the barricades, Marius notices that the woman seems to have the magical ability to avoid being detected by those around her. It doesn't make sense, for he can see her clearly, despite her almost entirely black appearance blending into the night sky. They walk past a team of National Guards. No one casts a glance their way. They approach the barricades.

Marius pauses.

"You're from the future," he says. It isn't a question. "What happens? What happens today? What happens to us?"

The woman shakes her head. "I'm not from your future. I come from a different world. A different dimension, if you would. But if your world is at all like mine, then this day, these barricades will only be a small battle in a much longer struggle toward the betterment of your world."

"A long struggle?" Marius asks, as if it hasn't occurred to him that defeating the National Guards will not lead to the toppling of kings and the ushering in of freedom. Maybe he hasn't thought this through. If tomorrow comes and they successfully beat back the Old Order, then what? Will the king come out to the streets to extend peace? Will things get better just as Enjolras is even now so certain of in his belief for a golden future?

"In your world, what becomes of the people fighting in the June Battle?"

"They died."

"The Freedom Fighters? All of them?"

She nods.

"They believed in their causes. They had the chance to leave at any time, but they all chose to stay. During the night, the army came and killed them all."

 _All._ He and his friends may -- will -- all die at the barricades tomorrow. Death isn't a philosophical debate anymore; it is staring down at Marius, laughing at him for his naivety. But this woman has survived. While it's true that she wasn't there at the battle scene, she was still part of it by extension of being among those who supported the Freedom Fighters' cause. Is what Enjolras said true then? That the people will rise and one day carry the torch that they are setting aflame with this revolution, regardless of whether they will succeed or fail?

Marius feels the need, urgently, to know what happens to the woman's world after their June Battle.

"And the others? The ones you marched with? Do they continue the Freedom Fighters' work?"

"We continue to march every year."

"Is that it?" Marius says hotly, suddenly bothered by the woman's coldness. "A march each year to commemorate something so many of your people gave their lives for? Does no one carry the Freedom Fighters' mantle, keep fighting for their cause?" Marius pauses, waits for the woman to protest, but only becomes more enraged when she doesn't respond. If he is honest with himself, perhaps he would admit that it's not only anger that he feels, but fear. Fear for irrelevance, of being no more than a footnote in history when future generations of students will study their foolish revolution in schools still kept under a tyrannical regime. "Do a lot of people march with you? Or have they --" (stopped caring; denounced their cause; reverted back to oppression) "-- forgotten?"

"My people have long lives and deep memories. It's been 250 years. And yes, while many have forgotten, we still march on."

 _We still live on_ , Marius hears. This is the burden of survivors, he suddenly realizes. For the dead, their pain was but for a moment and their martyrdom glorious. But for those who didn't get to give their lives, the pain festers into something so unbearable that the only way to go on is to condemn oneself to live a half-life.

It makes sense why this woman is acting so coldly toward the world.

"250 years... so nothing changed? After all this time, all the lives lost?"

The woman doesn't answer right away. Marius follows her gaze into the barricades. His friends have finished drinking and singing. They are now bustling about on their side of the barricades, determining strategic positions and making plans for tomorrow.

"There's more than one way to change the world, you know," she speaks into the group of revolutionaries. There is almost a trace of contempt in her voice. Marius strains his ears to be sure, but thinks instead that he has heard pity.

He will _not_ be the object of pity.

"I'm not the marching type. I won't be in the periphery, not when my friends need me here to fight with them!"

The woman smiles, and it's a more terrifying sight than any frown she can put on her face. "Do they?" As she looks on toward Marius' friends -- she looks at them as if they are mere boys (and perhaps they are) -- reinforcing their barricade and getting ready for the fight, her eyes seems to have acquired a nostalgic look. Marius wonders if, by looking at his friends, she is once again seeing the faces of her people, her friends.

They stay silent as those inside the barricades continue their preparations.

"Want to know what happens to my friends?" She breaks the silence. "Those of us who marched with our parents without understanding what was going on, but have now grown up and become torch bearers for a new generation of dreamers?"

He does.

"One becomes a doctor." Marius trails his gaze toward Joly. "She saves lives everyday. She makes sure those who are broken will be healed. However many lives were lost during the June Battle that day, she has saved hundreds, thousands of times over.

"One becomes a lawyer." He looks at Lesgle. "An advocate for the people. When a rich property owner tried to force a poor tenant out of his home, my friend fought on his behalf and won. He's done that since he finished his studies at the Law Institute. He doesn't make a lot of money, but he told me once that those whom he helped are already enough payment of their own.

"One becomes a businessman. He established a bar and brings happiness to people the only way he knows how." Marius allows a small smile to take over his face as he fixes his eyes on the building, knowing that Grantaire is probably inside, and drunk. "He likes to talk about robbing from the rich and helping the poor. From the way he charges an exorbitant amount for top-shelf shots that those dolt of billionaires keep ordering, I believe him.

"One becomes a mother. She was separated from the man she loved on the eve of the battle, but they found each other again after the unrest. They pledged their lives to each other and built a loving home. Their love spills over to the others around them. They are the kindest people I know."

Marius thinks of Cosette, and his heart aches.

"One grew up and went back to school." He looks at Gavroche bounding about, so innocent and young; a life that will be extinguished too soon. "She becomes a scholar and her theoretical research sets the foundation for many social changes that have taken place since our June Battle.

"One becomes a philanthropist. She has to deal with frauds and scoundrels every day, but she has a gift in making money and remains pure-hearted. She doesn't apologize for being rich. She uses her wealth to give wings to those with dreams to fly."

Without understanding why, the face of Cosette's father, Monsieur LeBlanc they call him, comes to mind. Marius only knows him to be a gentleman who likes to give alms. He doesn't know why he is at the barricades, isn't even sure if the old man with the white hair and National Guard uniform is him. But if he is here and is the one whose well-aimed shot has saved them all, then there is a lot more about him that Marius realizes he doesn't know.

"One joined the police force and taught his colleagues what it means to be just." Ah yes, Inspector Javert has been captured and is inside the building. He's not a bad man; he saved Monsieur LeBlanc from Thénardier's gang. What will become of him? "He refuses to target vulnerable groups and will not turn a blind eye to the crimes of the rich. Instead, he treats everybody the same, and I'd like to believe that my city's reduction in crimes has more than a little to do with him.

"One becomes a lawmaker. She was elected into our City Council with a vision to bring about changes from the inside. Many people mocked her when she ran for election, accused her for being a traitor. But she got inside the establishment, and I really believe that she's making changes everyday, even if it's just altering a guideline here to make housing available to more poor people or increasing the threshold of providing food for more hungry children.

"It took a while, but eventually, one becomes a governor. Some said she sold her soul. I've even heard people say she would have been better off dying with the Freedom Fighters during the June battle. But she has acquired influence. She's giving voice to a population that has been invisible before she came to power. Yes, she made many compromises along the way, and perhaps in the process she did throw her soul away. But one thing I know for sure: if she had chosen death over life on that fateful June day, thousands of the poorest of the poor would still be homeless, and no one who had been unfairly jailed would walk free among the province's streets again."

Hearing her describe this People's Leader, Marius at first glances at Enjolras. He doesn't know if his golden-haired friend, so unyielding in his beliefs and almost fanatic in his pursuit of freedom, will ever deign to sully his soul in order to bring about true freedom to the people that they all profess to fight for. His eyes then turn to Combeferre. Perhaps it is true that when one falls, another will take his place, and Marius can think of none better than Enjolras' loyal rear guard to take over their cause. Even now, Combeferre is busy organizing the revolutionaries into teams and translating Enjolras' lofty call to freedom into actionable steps. If Combeferre becomes governor, Marius thinks, he'd have no problem following him.

He turns to the woman. _And you?_ he almost asks, but seeing the pain in her eyes that tells of lost friendships and having witnessed far too much pain, he understands.

"You are the governor."

The woman neither agrees nor disagrees. "If I'd have died on the day of my world's revolution, would it have been better?"

"No!" How can she say that? Her world needs a governor, a leader. Not a failed martyr.

He feels that uncomfortable intensity of her gaze again.

"Are you so sure?" she asks.

Marius almost snaps at her. "Is that why you're here, to join our battle, to die in a revolution because you were too young to do so at your world's?"

She holds his gaze through those hurtful words and doesn't become angry. Marius is reminded again of how weary she looks. And then he _knows_.

She's still fighting the Freedom Fighters' battle everyday, he realizes, as are her friends, normal people who do their best to survive, living in a world that will never change as much as they would like it to, but persisting nonetheless.

And she will keep fighting.

"I'm here for my own reasons," the woman says. "And so are you, Marius Pontmercy. Decide now. Who are you? What are you fighting for? How will you change the world?"

Her questions, his name coming out of her lips, her voice -- all of this ring loudly in his ears long after she has disappeared from right in front of him. Marius doesn't try to understand why, doesn't feel the need to push away the burning in his heart as he considers his next move. Turn left and he will be back inside the barricades, where he will die with his friends; turn right, and he will walk away into cowardice (perhaps) and a chance to change the world through living.

The sun is about to rise. The songs of the morning birds greet him, unaware of the bloody day they are welcoming in. He has been lost in thoughts for hours. He has decided.

He turns.

**Author's Note:**

> I know I left the ending ambiguous. I truly don't know which direction Marius will choose. But either way, I suppose he lives?
> 
> Thanks for reading! I welcome your thoughts and comments!


End file.
